The present invention relates to fire fighting apparatus, and particularly to foam discharge for fighting fires.
Cities have water delivery systems with fire hydrants for providing a source of fire fighting water. Unfortunately, such a plentiful water supply is not always available to fight fires. Many rural areas do not have a fire hydrant system. Similarly, no water supply is available in many remote areas. Consequently, to fight fires in such areas, water must be carried to the fire. Large water tanks carried on trucks and in aircraft aid in bringing water to a fire site, but when these tanks are empty it is difficult or impossible to successfully fight the fire. Water, therefore, is always a precious commodity when fighting fires, especially where the water must be carried to the fire site.
To extend a water supply at a fire site, it is known to intermix water with a surfactant, i.e., soap, to create a foam discharge for wetting and extinguishing the fire. In accordance with such known methods, the foam is generated in the turbulence of the water and surfactant mixture as it travels along a conduit. In many cases, 30 to 100 feet of conduit are required to provide sufficient turbulence to produce the desired foam discharge.
It is desirable to produce as much foam discharge as possible from a given volume of water. In this manner, the precious resource, water, is more fully used.